Awarded in spite of himself by the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the author of comic strip Nicolas Juncker donates his endowment to the victims of Sainte-Soline – Liberation

2023-04-17 16:41:47

Distinguished by the Grand Prize of the “Galons de la BD”, the author has decided to donate his prize to the victims of the military violence of Sainte-Soline, as well as to a solidarity fund with the strikers against the pension reform.

“There are prizes that are pleasing, others less so.” These few words are those of Nicolas Juncker. A little over a week ago, this not really militaristic comic book author was awarded for his comic A General, Generals by… the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Funny. Also, the author could simply have chosen to sulk the reward by refusing the distinction. But Nicolas Juncker is smarter than that. Because if he decided to boycott the award ceremony, he accepted the financial endowment allocated to him, choosing to pay the money “to a solidarity fund with the strikers against the pension reform as well as to a support fund for the victims of military violence in Sainte-Soline»as he writes in a Facebook post.

Initiated in 2021, the Grand Prix des “Comic Strips” reward every year “recent and original creations dealing with military fact, armed conflicts, their consequences or defense issues.” A price which, according to the press release from the Ministry of the Armed Forces, is supposed to allow “to put forward another look at the links that unite a people to its army.” However, Nicolas Juncker asserts that “for personal, moral, political reasons”, it is him “impossible to accept this award as it stands.” And to recall that two years ago already, when his book Alone in Berlin appeared in the selection, he had preferred that he be removed.

Soldiers who do not lack humor

In A general, generals – published last year by Le Lombard editions – the specialist in historical comics immerses us in the Algeria of May 1958. The settlers of Algiers then rose up against a new government which, in Paris, seemed ready to dialogue with the separatists. The army must choose sides: remain loyal to the state or embrace the cause of French Algeria, the last vestige of the French colonial empire.

“It seemed unlikely to me that the army would reward a book telling in detail how the said army had recently tried to overthrow a Republican government by a putsch. It was to underestimate the sense of humor of our soldiers and the members of the jury.mocks the author, who refused to go to the awards ceremony on April 13. “I don’t care”he chants, still on Facebook.

“I passed the age of Playmobils on motorcycles”

The author’s anger came to meet the militant news of Sainte-Soline. Several thousand demonstrators mobilized at the end of March against this mega-basin project in Deux-Sèvres. Mobilizations which were the scene of extremely violent clashes between the demonstrators and the police, and which echo the violence of the repression of the demonstrations linked to the pension reform.

It was this major crisis that led Nicolas Juncker to donate his endowment, before formulating a wish: “May the Minister of the Armed Forces financially support these causes through me, perhaps wondering how to restore the “ties that unite a people to its army” rather than trying to destroy them, that could only comfort me,” he piously explains. And to end with a nod to the petition calling for the dissolution of the Brav-M: “I have passed the age of Playmobils on motorcycles.”